One type of opticfiber connector includes a housing with the familiar RJ-45 telephone style latch. The housing is formed of molded plastic with a housing body having a passage that holds an optic fiber terminus. The housing also forms a latch with a front end that merges with the housing body, a middle that forms a pair of latch shoulders, and a rear that forms a handle. When the housing is inserted forwardly into a terminus coupling that is designed for such a connector, the latch is automatically depressed until the latch shoulders move behind coupling shoulders, the latch then springing up so the latch shoulders lie directly forward of the coupling shoulders. The connector then cannot be removed unless the handle is depressed to depress the latch shoulders so they are not in line with the coupling shoulders.
While the above type of small optic fiber connector is in very wide use, its use has revealed a fundamental weakness that precludes it from being used in harsher environments where it might be subjected to elevated temperatures and vibration. The optic fiber terminus lying in the connector housing, is spring biased rearwardly with a considerable force. Such bias assures that the tips of optic fibers will firmly abut one another to assure that light passes from one optic fiber to the other. The same spring force tends to cause the connector to spontaneously disengage from the terminus coupling under an environment of elevated temperature and vibration. The failure results from stress relaxation. A small added device that prevented such spontaneous disengagement of the connector from a terminus coupling, would enable such very popular small connectors to be used in many more applications.
Any device that prevented spontaneous disengagement of the above described popular optic fiber connector, should project minimally from the space occupied by present optic fiber connectors. In some applications, the above type of optic fiber connectors are spaced closely along a terminus coupling that holds a plurality of such connectors, and any added device should not interfere with insertion and removal of each connector individually.
In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, a secondary latch is provided that mounts on the body of a small optic fiber connector of a type that has a latch of the telephone type, and that prevents inadvertent release of the primary latch from a terminus coupling, wherein the secondary latch extends only a very small distance beyond the profile of a connector without such secondary latch. The secondary latch has a sleeve that slides between forward and rearward positions around the housing body. The secondary latch also has a wedge part that substantially wedges between the latch handle and the top of the housing body. The wedge part prevents inadvertent downward movement of the primary latch.
The novel features of the invention are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. The invention will be best understood from the following description when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.